The present invention relates in general to raised flooring panels and raised flooring assemblies, and more particularly to a raised flooring panel and a raised flooring assembly with improved structural characteristics.
Raised flooring has heretofore been employed in the construction of buildings. Liskey, Inc. has sold raised flooring panels with radial rib design and raised flooring assemblies with stringers forming a grid. Innocrete Systems, Inc. has sold access flooring or elevated flooring panels and elevated flooring assemblies. The panels were made of a silicate compound. In the patent to Liskey, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 3,180,460, issued on Apr. 27, 1965, for Floor Panel For Elevated Flooring, there is disclosed an elevated floor comprised of stringers and floor panels. The floor covering above the floor panel is composed of rubber or plastic tile. The floor panel is fabricated or extruded aluminum. Thus, the floor panel has a rubber or plastic tile thereabove as a floor covering and is composed of the extruded aluminum sections.
The patent to Chevaux, U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,529, issued on Mar. 30, 1976, for Floor For Sports And Particularly For Roller Skating, discloses a floor for roller skating. A deck plate is formed and molded or injected molded plastic tiles are installed on the top of the deck plate. While the patent to Donovan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,279,134, issued on Oct. 18, 1966, for Elevated Floor Construction, discloses panels made of vinyl, asphalt, cork and the like. Reinforcing members project from the bottom of the panels. In the patent to Bettinger, U.S. Pat. No. 3,811,237, issued on May 21, 1974, for Raised Floor Panel And Assembly, the panel comprises a core made of high density particle board, such as compressed wood particles.
In the patent to Tharp, U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,557, issued on Apr. 25, 1978, for Raised Access Floor Systems, there is disclosed a floor panel made of a relatively thick chip board material disposed in a pan. A polyvinyl chloride impact molding is fitted between the chip board material and the inner wall of the pan. The polyvinyl chloride molding frames a sheet of galvanized steel on which a carpet is fitted. The patent to Mori et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,516, issued on Mar. 31, 1981, for Apparatus For Supporting Floor Plates Above Substrate, discloses forming a floor panel from at least two veneer boards with an intermediate layer of a rubber-like elastic material, such as butadiene acrylonitrile rubber, polyisobutylene rubber, ethylene-propylene rubber, or may be formed of a rubber composition formed of rubber-like elastic material blended with polyvinyl chloride, polybutene or inorganic filler.
The patent to Tanzilli, U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,703, issued on Mar. 15, 1977, for Building Elements For Making Insulating Panels And Panels Assembled Therefrom, discloses upper and lower tile plates in a staggered relation. The plates are integrally molded in a material, such as synthetic resin or impact resistant polyvinyl chloride. The patent to Norsworthy, U.S. Pat. No. 3,318,057, issued on May 9, 1967, for Pedestal Floor Construction, discloses using flooring panels formed from sheet wood, such as plywood or a preformed, reinforced metal pan.